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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27699079">Halcyon</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdsra/pseuds/lcdsra'>lcdsra</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:40:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,143</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27699079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdsra/pseuds/lcdsra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>/ˈhalsēən/<br/>adjective<br/>1. denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.</p><p>Or: For awhile, Loki is happy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loki/Marina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935553</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Halcyon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>AU: You are born with a clock on your wrist that counts up until you meet your soulmate.</p><p>Character(s): Loki, Marina, Valentina<br/>Relationship(s): Loki/Marina<br/>Warning(s): Mild cursing, infidelity</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki as a kid, being told soulmates are the end all be all. When (not if, his parents told him) he met his soulmate, she’d complete him. She (always a she, though they were right it was glaringly heteronormative) would complete him in ways he had always missed.</p><p>He was a quiet boy, a lonely boy. His soulmate would be loud, or at the very least powerful when he was weak, strong while he was soft.</p><p>They were right about it all, even though many parents were not. But still, they set him up for failure in that they never explained what to do if he lost his soulmate.</p><p>: : :</p><p>“Everyone is born with this clock,” His grandmother had explained, when he visited.</p><p>“Everyone?”</p><p>Her clock had stopped at 23 years, 330 days, 9 hours, 51 minutes and 5 seconds. “Yes. When you meet her, your clock will stop.”</p><p>His own always went <em>tick tick tick</em>, even before he learned the concept of time. “Was he Grandpa for you?”</p><p>“Yes.” She smiled. “He was a wonderful man. Changed my life forever.”</p><p>: : :</p><p>Loki’s soulmate clock stopped at 25 years, 5 days, 6 hours, 33 minutes and 1 second.</p><p>He was physically bigger which meant he didn’t stumble much, but the person he bumped into fell back.</p><p>With a coffee stained shirt.</p><p>“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” He sputtered, reaching out to help, but the woman just shoved his hands away.</p><p>“I’m fine.” The woman growled, stepping away from him. “Ugh, my shirt.”</p><p>“I’m sorry.” He apologized helplessly. He tossed the remainder of his coffee into a nearby trash can. “Can I help you in any way?”</p><p>The woman glanced at her wrist, then her eyes widened. “Oh,”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Check your wrist.”</p><p>He did. And there it was, the moment he was waiting for. “Oh, wow.”</p><p>The woman held her drenched shirt away from her body, looking curiously at him. “What’s your name?”</p><p>“Loki. You?”</p><p>“Marina.”</p><p>His grandmother’s words were true, Marina changed him forever.</p><p>: : :</p><p>What Marina failed to mention at their first meeting was that she had a daughter. Sort of.</p><p>Valentina was her adopted daughter, who was shy but loved adventure, like Marina. They interacted sparsely at first, but eventually, they grew closer, like a family.</p><p>Marina’s job demanded that she kept traveling and staying away for long periods of time, but Loki wanted them all to settle down and for Valentina to get the American school experience.</p><p>It was the source of their biggest fight up til that point. Marina insisted on keeping her job, but Loki pushed, for the first time in his life, for her job to be located somewhere in America.</p><p>Marina was the one to concede. She admitted she could schedule her work so the time away would be a week at most.</p><p>They traveled for awhile until Marina could permanently settle down. They bought a small apartment, Loki got a job that let him stay home for Valentina. Valentina made a friend, got enrolled into grade school.</p><p>He and Marina got married, a small affair but no less special. Val was the ring barrier, and Sasha, her friend, was the flower girl.</p><p>All was good.</p><p>: : :</p><p>All was not good. For the five years, everything was fine. Sure, Loki got lonely, but Marina stayed true to her word.</p><p>Then Marina started leaving for longer periods of time. More often than not, he and Valentina would eat dinner alone. They’d fight over Valentina going with Marina, whenever she returned.</p><p>A year after Marina left for two months at a time, Valentina began to drift away, spending more time out of the apartment than in it, leaving him alone.</p><p>To take his mind off things, he got a job in person instead of remotely. And one day he went to drinks with his coworkers and found a lovely woman named Sylvia.</p><p>Sylvia reminded him what he felt when he first met Marina.</p><p>They became friends.</p><p>: : :</p><p>They drifted into a dangerous territory. Sylvia might know, theoretically, that he was married, that he met his soulmate.</p><p>Her clock continued to tick up, so she had no one leaving her. She was solitary and alone but whole, unburdened by the pain of missing a part of her soul.</p><p>At least, that’s how she put in. She wasn’t looking for her soulmate, and might even reject them, whoever they might be.</p><p>It was refreshing, exhilarating.</p><p>: : :</p><p>Marina responded to finding out Loki was cheating well, all things considered. She didn’t lash out, she didn’t hurt anyone or herself, nor threaten to. But she did stare at him (only him, not at Sylvia) and told him to come home immediately and meet her in the kitchen.</p><p>So there they were. Refusing to really meet each other’s eyes.</p><p>“So.” Loki started. Marina wasn’t even looking at him anymore, though he was. Her hair was beginning to grey, just a little, since they had last met.</p><p>“Was it worth it?”</p><p>Loki didn’t flinch, but just stared at the ground. Being confronted with his choices, he’d say no. But in the moments that he stole behind closed doors, they were wonderful. Sylvia was gentle and kind and understanding, always there for him to talk to, something Marina wasn’t.</p><p>But, he still loved Marina and the life she gave him.</p><p>“I don’t think I want to know, actually.” Marina sneered at his lack of response. “Why are you still here?”</p><p>Because it was still his home. They were together for twelve years, this house they built was almost ten years in the making. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I didn’t want to hurt you. Either of you.”</p><p>“I know.” She said. “Valentina is in college now. She’s old enough to understand.”</p><p>He blinked. “Understand what?”</p><p>“A divorce.”</p><p>“No!” His head jerked up in surprise. “I don’t want that,”</p><p>“Then what do you want?” She hissed. “Do you want to quit your job?”</p><p>“No,”</p><p>“Do you want me to quit <em>my</em> job?”</p><p>“No!”</p><p>“Then <em>what</em>?”</p><p>Loki didn’t know. He wished the earth would come up and swallow him whole, he wished he hadn’t cheated with a therapist of all people, but most of all, he wished he had never met his soulmate.</p><p>Society told him that soulmates were the key to happiness. Sure, money and friends were important, but nothing could replace a soulmate’s love.</p><p>But as he grew older, he realized those were lies. Marina was a traveler, an adventurer. Loki wanted to settle down and make a family with her. He should’ve known that one of them would’ve been unhappy at any given point.</p><p>“I don’t know.” He said quietly. “I just…”</p><p>Marina’s gaze bore into his skull, and if felt as if she could read all his guilt and fear and sadness. “We weren’t meant to be together.” She said. “We can’t be together and be happy too.”</p><p>“I know.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I could stay awake just to hear you breathing<br/>Watch you smile while you are sleeping<br/>While you're far away and dreaming<br/>I could spend my life in this sweet surrender<br/>I could stay lost in this moment forever<br/>Ooh, every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure</p><p>- I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith</p></blockquote></div></div>
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